Dealuminated Hβ zeolite for selective conversion of fructose to furfural and formic acid

The fructose-to-furfural transformation is facing major challenges in the selectivity and high efficiency. Herein, we have developed a simple and effective approach for the selective conversion of fructose to furfural using Hβ zeolite modified by organic acids for dealuminization to regulate its textural and acidic properties. It was found that citric acid-dealuminized Hβ zeolite possessed high specific surface areas, wide channels and high Brønsted acid amount, which facilitated the selective conversion of fructose to furfural with a maximum yield of 76.2% at433 K for 1 h in the γ-butyrolactone(GBL)-H_(2)O system, as well as the concomitant formation of 83.0% formic acid. The^(13)C-isotope labelling experiments and the mechanism revealed that the selective cleavage of C1–C2 or C5–C6 bond on fructose was firstly occurred to form pentose or C5 intermediate by weak Brønsted acid, which was then dehydrated to furfural by strong Brønsted acid. Also this dealuminized Hβ catalyst showed the great recycling performance and was active for the conversion of glucose and mannose.

Gross Alpha and Beta Activities and Related Lifetime Risks Assessment Due to Ingestion of Drinking Water from Different Sources in the District of Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Drinking good quality water is essential for better health. It is therefore essential to assess the radiological quality of all water consumed in the District of Abidjan in order to prevent related hazards. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the risk of cancer due to the ingestion of alpha and beta emitting radionuclides in the different types of water consumed in the region. A total of 63 water samples with 43 tap water samples, 5 bottled mineral water and 15 sachet water samples was collected and taken to GAEC laboratory for analysis. The low background Gas-less Automatic Alpha/Beta counting system (Canberra iMaticTM) was used to determine alpha and beta activity concentrations. Activity concentrations of both gross alpha and gross beta obtained in water sample were respectively lower than the WHO recommended limits of 0.1 Bq/l and 1 Bq/l. Also, the annual effective dose and total equivalent effective dose found in mineral bottled water samples were higher than in other types of water. The assessment of radiological lifetime risk has shown values of cancer risk due to ingestion alpha and beta emitters lower than recommended limit. These results indicate that there is no health hazard associated to consumption of water in the District of Abidjan.

Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotopes of Pedogenic Carbonates in Ustic Vertisols: Implications for Paleoenvironmental Change

Pedogenic carbonates, found extensively in arid and semiarid regions, are important in revealing regional climatic and environmental changes as well as the carbon cycle. In addition, stable carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of pedogenic carbonates have been used to rebuild paleoecology (biomass and vegetation) and to estimate paleotemperature and paleoprecipitation during past geological time. By utilizing the stable carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions (δ13C and (δ18O) of secondary nodules in Ustic Vertisols, this study looked into the climatic and environmental changes in the dry valleys of the Yuanmou Basin, Yunnan Province, in southwestern China. The results showed that during the early Holocene, a warm-humid or hot-humid climate existed in the Yuanmou Basin, but since then fluctuations in climate have occurred, with a dry climate prevailing. A highly significant correlation (r = 0.92, n = 9) between δ13C and δ18O values of carbonates illustrated that there had been a continual shifting between cold-humid and warm-dry climates in southwestern China including the Yuanmou Basin since the early Holocene.

Energy consumption,indoor environmental quality,and benchmark for office buildings in Hainan Province of China

With rapid economy growth,building energy consumption in China has been gradually increased.The energy consumption and indoor environmental quality of 51 office buildings in Hainan Province,a hot and humid area,were studied through collection of verified data in site visits and field tests.The result revealed that,electricity accounted for 99.79% of the total energy consumption,natural gas 0.17%,and diesel 0.04%.The air conditioning dominated the energy use with a share of 43.18%,equipment in the particular areas 26.90%,equipment in the office rooms 11.95%,lighting system 8.67%,general service system 7.57%,and miscellaneous items 1.73%.Statistical method including six indicators obtained the energy consumption benchmark with upper limit of 98.31 kW-h/m2 and lower limit of 55.26 kW-h/m2.According to ASHRAE standard(comfortable standard) and GB/T 18883-2002(acceptable standard),the indoor environmental quality of 51 sampled office buildings was classified into three ranks:good,normal and bad.With benchmark of building energy consumption combined with indoor environmental quality,it was found that only 3.92% of sampled buildings can be identified as the best performance buildings with low energy consumption and advanced indoor environmental quality,and the buildings classified into normal level accounted for the maximum ratio.

Environmental Exposure to Lead, Vanadium, Copper and Selenium: Possible Implications in the Development of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Human exposure to toxic metals is on the increase especially in the developing world;this is compounded by the almost unavoidable application of the metals domestically and industrially and their implication in several genetic defects, aging and some chronic illnesses including Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This study investigated the concentration of toxic metals (Pb and V) and micro-essential elements (Cu and Se) in children with ASD and controls in Nigeria towards establishing their possible associations with the aetiopathogenesis of ASD. Eight children clinically diagnosed by Paediatric Neurologist and Child Psychiatrist for ASD using DMS-IV and fifteen apparently healthy children (age range 2 - 12 years) were recruited as cases and controls respectively. Plasma levels of Pb, V, Cu and Se were analyzed using Induction ICP-MS. Results were analyzed using students t-test. The mean plasma lead and vanadium levels were (7.92 ± 1.30 μg/dl;1.07 ± 0.22 μg/dl) and (6.83 ± 0.72 μg/dl;2.59 ± 0.48 μg/dl) in children with ASD and in controls respectively. The result showed that blood lead level in ASD was slightly increased but not significant when compared with control (p < 0.433). On the other hand, plasma vanadium concentration in ASD was significantly reduced (1.07 ± 0.22 μg/dl) when compared with control (2.59 ± 0.48 μg/dl) (P < 0.038). Mean plasma copper was similar in all participants (1.98 ± 0.13, 2.23 ± 0.12) but selenium concentrations were significantly reduced (0.37 ± 0.05 mg/L;0.57 ± 0.02 mg/L) in ASD relative to controls respectively. Given the physiological functions of vanadium and selenium, the observed reduced levels of the two elements in children with ASD may account for the speech and other neurological dysfunctions of the brain in ASD.

Synthesis of porous carbon nanomaterials and their application in tetracycline removal from aqueous solutions

The low-cost and efficient elimination of tetracycline from wastewater and to decrease the concentration in soils,sediments,rivers,underground water,or lakes are crucial to human health.Herein,threedimensional porous carbon nanomaterials were synthesized using glucose and NH_(4)Cl by sugarblowing process at 900℃ and then oxidized under air atmosphere for surface functional group modification.The prepared 3D porous carbon nanomaterials were applied for the removal of tetracycline from aqueous solutions.The sorption isotherms were well simulated by the Langmuir model,with the calculated sorption capacity of 2378 mg·g^(-1) for C-450 at pH=6.5,which was the highest value of today's reported materials.The porous carbon nanomaterials showed high stability at acidic conditions and selectivity in high salt concentrations.The good recycle ability and high removal efficiency of tetracycline from natural groundwater indicated the potential application of the porous carbon nanomaterials in natural environmental antibiotic pollution cleanup.The outstanding sorption properties were attributed to the structures,surface areas and functional groups,strong interactions such as H-bonding,π-π interaction,electrostatic attraction,etc.This paper highlighted the synthesis of porous carbon nanomaterials with high specific surfaces,high sorption capacities,stability,and reusability in organic chemicals'pollution treatment.

Impacts of channel dredging on hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics in the main channels of the Jiaojiang River Estuary in China

Channel dredging in estuaries increases water depth and subsequently impacts sediment dynamics and morphology. The Jiaojiang River Estuary is dredged frequently owing to heavy shipping demands. In this study,the effects of different dredging schemes on siltation were assessed through numerical modeling. The sediment model of the Jiaojiang River Estuary utilized an optimized bottom boundary layer model that considered the bed sediment grain size and fluid mud, and this model was calibrated using field data. Result reveal that channel dredging modifies the flow velocity inside and around the channel by changing the bathymetry;subsequently, this affects the residual current, bed stress, suspended sediment concentration, and sediment fluxes. Increasing the dredging depth and width increases the net sediment fluxes into the channel and dredging depth has a greater influence on the channel siltation thickness. When the dredging depth is 8.4 m or11.4 m, the average siltation thickness of the channel is 0.07 m or 0.15 m per mouth respectively. The parallel movement of the channel has small effects on the siltation volume during the simulation period. The sediment deposits in the channel primarily originates from the tidal flats, through bottom sediment fluxes. Vertical net circulation has a dominant impact on siltation because the difference of horizontal current of each layer on the longitudinal section of the channel increases, which intensifies the lateral sediment transport between the shoal and channel. The influence of vertical frictional dissipation on the lateral circulation at the feature points accounts for more than 50% before dredging, while the non-linear advective term is dominant after dredging. Tidal pumping mainly affects the longitudinal sediment fluxes in the channel. These results can be used for channel management and planning for similar estuaries worldwide.

Wind and Snow Impacts on Urban Space Planning:A Multiphase Numerical Simulation

The wind and snow environment outside the planned space plays a key role in the comfort and safety of the human habitat in severe cold regions. Traditional studies of the external environment of human settlements, however, frequently overlook the combined impacts of wind and snow environments. Furthermore, in urban meteorological studies, it is impossible to accurately assess the wind and snow environment in specific areas or locations. In this study, a refined Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) multiphase flow numerical method was used to simulate a planning space's wind and snow environment. The study classified the Snowstorm Weather Grade(SWG) by incorporating the Snowstorm Weather Index(SWI) to generate calculation results of the wind environment and snow environment. In particular, 150 measurement points in the planning space were chosen for analysis and evaluation of their wind and snow environments. The results demonstrated that the SWI index can effectively correlate to the wind and snow environment calculation results. In addition, the graph of SWI showed that 55% of the measurement points had a moderate wind and snow grade SWI, which exceeds the average grade for the entire region. The practical application shows that the wind and snow environment assessment indexes and technical methods developed in this paper can be successfully applied to wind and snow environment studies in other cold cities.

Public Effective Dose Assessment Using Gross Alpha and Beta Radioactivity Levels of Tap Drinking Water in the District of Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

In order to assess public effective dose due to gross alpha and beta in water, 43 tap water samples were collected from different areas in the District of Abidjan. Using the low background Gas-less Automatic Alpha/Beta counting system (Canberra iMaticTM) for analysis, the gross alpha and beta concentrations found varied from 0.001 ± 0.002 to 0.063 ± 0.050 Bq/l with an average of 0.013 ± 0.012 Bq/l and from 0.067 ± 0.080 to 0.320 ± 0.120 Bq/l with an average of 0.174 ± 0.076 Bq/l, respectively in samples. The public effective dose assessment showed values of dose to ingestion of alpha and beta emitter radionuclides lower than the recommended value of dose for drinking water 0.1 mSv/y, except in 30% of the samples. These results show the need for additional studies to be conducted in order to clarify the hazardousness of these water samples. However, this study still remains important because it has provided necessary data for future tap water quality monitoring studies in the District of Abidjan.

Regional Renewable Energy Optimization Based on Economic Benefits and Carbon Emissions

With increasing renewable energy utilization,the industry needs an accurate tool to select and size renewable energy equipment and evaluate the corresponding renewable energy plans.This study aims to bring new insights into sustainable and energy-efficient urban planning by developing a practical method for optimizing the production of renewable energy and carbon emission in urban areas.First,we provide a detailed formulation to calculate the renewable energy demand based on total energy demand.Second,we construct a dual-objective optimization model that represents the life cycle cost and carbon emission of renewable energy systems,after which we apply the differential evolution algorithmto solve the optimization result.Finally,we conduct a case study in Qingdao,China,to demonstrate the effectiveness of this optimizationmodel.Compared to the baseline design,the proposedmodel reduced annual costs and annual carbon emissions by 14.39%and 72.65%,respectively.These results revealed that dual-objective optimization is an effective method to optimize economic benefits and reduce carbon emissions.Overall,this study will assist energy planners in evaluating the impacts of urban renewable energy projects on the economy and carbon emissions during the planning stage.

Comparative Alpha Tracks Counting Using an Optical Microscope and a Spark Counter

In the metrology of radon, an environmental lung carcinogen, the integrated measurements necessary for epidemiological studies are made very often using the tracks detector LR 115 type 2. For dosimetric analysis, the etched tracks from radon alpha particles on this detector are usually counted by means of an optical microscope or a spark counter. An optimal reading of the track densities which must be converted into radon concentrations, can’t be done without a good mastery of the mode of operation and use of these devices. Furthermore, investigations to know as to whether or not each of those can be used to determine radon concentration are necessary. These are the objectives of the present work in which LR 115 samples exposed to radon for at least 3 months, were chemically developed under standard conditions and read. The track densities obtained with the microscope are very much higher than those of the counter for each sample. These results are consistent with those published by other authors. However, each of these devices can be used interchangeably for alpha tracks counting, as both provide radon concentrations with a very good linear correlation coefficient of 0.95 taking into account their respective calibration factors for the reading of this detector. In addition, the saturation phenomenon for the spark counter reading of LR 115 detector occurs beyond 11,000 tr/cm2, a density never reached during our environmental radon measurements.

Landfill Site Suitability Assessment Using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in Butuan City, Philippines

Landfilling is one of the most effective and responsible ways to dispose of municipal solid waste(MSW).Identifying landfill sites,however,is a challenging and complex undertaking because it depends on social,environmental,technical,economic,and legal issues.This study aims to map the optimal sites that were environmentally suitable for locating a landfill site in Butuan City,Philippines.With reference to the policy requirements from DENR Section I,Landfill Site Identification Criteria and Screening Guidelines of National Solid Waste Management Commission,the integration of a Geographic Information System(GIS)model builder and Analytical Hierarchy Process(AHP)has been used in this study to address the aforementioned challenges related to the landfill site suitability analysis.Based on the generated sanitary landfill suitability map,results showed that Barangay Tungao(1131.42967 ha)and Florida(518.48 ha)were able to meet and consider the three(3)main components,namely economic,environmental,and physical criteria,and are highly suit­able as landfill site locations in Butuan City.It is recommended that there will conduct a geotechnical evaluation,involv­ing rigorous geological and hydrogeological assessment employing a combination of site investigation and laboratory techniques.In addition,additional specific social,ecological,climatic,and economic factors need to be considered(i.e.including impact on humans,flora,fauna,soil,water,air,climate,and landscape).

A Composite Transformer-Based Multi-Stage Defect Detection Architecture for Sewer Pipes

Urban sewer pipes are a vital infrastructure in modern cities,and their defects must be detected in time to prevent potential malfunctioning.In recent years,to relieve the manual efforts by human experts,models based on deep learning have been introduced to automatically identify potential defects.However,these models are insufficient in terms of dataset complexity,model versatility and performance.Our work addresses these issues with amulti-stage defect detection architecture using a composite backbone Swin Transformer.Themodel based on this architecture is trained using a more comprehensive dataset containingmore classes of defects.By ablation studies on the modules of combined backbone Swin Transformer,multi-stage detector,test-time data augmentation and model fusion,it is revealed that they all contribute to the improvement of detection accuracy from different aspects.The model incorporating all these modules achieves the mean Average Precision(mAP)of 78.6% at an Intersection over Union(IoU)threshold of 0.5.This represents an improvement of 14.1% over the ResNet50 Faster Region-based Convolutional Neural Network(R-CNN)model and a 6.7% improvement over You Only Look Once version 6(YOLOv6)-large,the highest in the YOLO methods.In addition,for other defect detection models for sewer pipes,although direct comparison with themis infeasible due to the unavailability of their private datasets,our results are obtained from a more comprehensive dataset and have superior generalization capabilities.

柠檬酸协同黄铁矿对煤矸石硅缓释及土壤砷稳定性的影响研究

煤矸石是煤炭开采和加工过程中产生的固体废弃物,通常由硅酸盐组成。其在提升硅的生物可利用性方面具有显著潜力,因此可作为农业用硅肥的潜在来源。然而,煤矸石硅的缓释性不足与植物的慢吸收速率存在天然矛盾,限制了煤矸石作为硅肥的应用。本研究探讨了柠檬酸和黄铁矿对煤矸石中硅的缓释效果,以及由此制备的复合物(C@PC-10)对土壤中砷的固化与稳定化作用。研究结果显示,C@PC-10能有效减缓煤矸石中硅的释放速率,在30 d的实验周期内,土壤中水溶态砷和有效态砷的去除效率分别达到71.3%和55.9%。此外,酸溶态砷的比例降低,而残渣态砷的比例增加。模拟酸雨实验进一步表明C@PC-10能够抑制土壤中砷的溶出。通过X射线衍射(XRD)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)和傅里叶变换红外光谱(FT-IR)分析,本研究证实了球磨过程中黄铁矿的氧化及其向黄钾铁矾和FeOOH的转化。这些发现揭示了氧化黄铁矿对砷的吸附能力显著增强,表明C@PC-10复合物是一种高效的修复材料,能够调控硅酸盐的释放并有效阻碍土壤中砷的迁移。

Molecular-level proton acceptor boosts oxygen evolution catalysis to enable efficient industrial-scale water splitting

Industrial water splitting has long been suppressed by the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction(OER),which requires a catalyst to be efficient.Herein,we propose a molecular-level proton acceptor strategy to produce an efficient OER catalyst that can boost industrial-scale water splitting.Molecular-level phosphate(-PO_(4))group is introduced to modify the surface of PrBa_(0.5)Ca_(0.5)Co_(2)O_(5)+δ(PBCC).The achieved catalyst(PO_(4)-PBCC)exhibits significantly enhanced catalytic performance in alkaline media.Based on the X-ray absorption spectroscopy results and density functional theory(DFT)calculations,the PO_(4)on the surface,which is regarded as the Lewis base,is the key factor to overcome the kinetic limitation of the proton transfer process during the OER.The use of the catalyst in a membrane electrode assembly(MEA)is further evaluated for industrial-scale water splitting,and it only needs a low voltage of 1.66 V to achieve a large current density of 1 A cm^(-2).This work provides a new molecular-level strategy to develop highly efficient OER electrocatalysts for industrial applications.

Evaluation of Particle Properties of MgO/TiO2 Material by Monte Carlo Simulation Method

The simulation by the Monte Carlo method executed by the software PyPENELOPE proved effective to specify the particle propagation characteristics by calculating the absorption fractions, backscattering and transmission of electrons and secondary photons under the incidence of 0.5 to 20 KeV range of primary electrons. More than 99.9% of the primary electrons were transmitted in the 125 nm thick MgO/TiO2 material at 20 KeV. This occurred because several interactions took place in the transmitted primary irradiation such as characteristic, fluorescence, and bremsstrahlung produced when of the occupation of the KL3, KL2, KM3, and KM2 shell and sub-shell of titanium and magnesium which are the elements with a high atomic number in the material. The transmission particle characteristic of this material is therefore an indicator capable of improving the electrical performance and properties of the sensor.

Heavy metal availability and impact on activity of soil microorganisms along a Cu/Zn contamination gradient

All the regulations that define a maximum concentration of metals in the receiving soil are based on total soil metal concentration. However, the potential toxicity of a heavy metal in the soil depends on its speciation and availability. We studied the effects of heavy metal speciation and availability on soil microorganism activities along a Cu/Zn contamination gradient. Microbial biomass and enzyme activity of soil contaminated with both Cu and Zn were investigated. The results showed that microbial biomass was negatively affected by the elevated metal levels. The microbial biomass-C （Cmic）/organic C （Corg） ratio was closely correlated to heavy metal stress. There were negative correlations between soil microbial biomass, phosphatase activity and NH4NO3 extractable heavy metals. The soil microorganism activity could be predicted using empirical models with the availability of Cu and Zn. We observed that 72% of the variation in phosphatase activity could be explained by the NH4NO3-extractable and total heavy metal concentration. By considering different monitoring approaches and different viewpoints, this set of methods applied in this study seemed sensitive to site differences and contributed to a better understanding of the effects of heavy metals on the size and activity of microorganisms in soils. The data presented demonstrate the relationship between heavy metals availability and heavy metal toxicity to soil microorganism along a contamination gradient.

Temperature effect on aerobic denitrification and nitrification

Nitrogen loss without organic removal in biofilter was observed and its possible reason was explained. A lower hydraulic loading could improve aerobic denitrification rate. Aerobic denitrification was seriously affected by low temperature(below 10℃). However, nitrification rate remained high when the temperature dropped from 15℃ to 5℃. It seemed the autotrophic biofilm in BAF could alleviate the adverse effect of low temperature.

Water and Energy Consumption by Agriculture in the Minqin Oasis Region

Water used in agriculture consumes much energy, mainly due to pumping water for irrigation, but the water-energy nexus is always neglected in arid and semi-arid areas. Based on hydrological observation data, irrigation data and socio- economic data over the past 50 yr, this study has derived a detailed estimate of greenhouse gas （GHG） emissions from agricultural water use in the Minqin Oasis. Results show that the decreasing water supply and increasing demand for agriculture has caused severe water deficits over the past 50 yr in this region. The groundwater energy use rate rose by 76% between 1961 and 2009 because of the serious decline in groundwater levels. An increase in pump lift by an average 1 m would cause GHG emission rates to rise by around 2%. Over the past 10 yr, the GHG emissions from groundwater accounted for 65-88% of the total emissions from agricultural water. GHG emissions for diverted water varied from 0.047 to 0.074 Mt CO2e as the water input increased. Long distance conveyance and high pump lifts need more electricity input than groundwater abstraction does. Government policies have had a favorable effect on total emissions by reducing water abstraction. But groundwater depletion, exacerbated by a growing population and an expansion in arable land, remains the principal energy-water nexus challenge in the region. In response to the increasing water-energy crisis, energy-saving irrigation technology, matching to cost efficiencies, and better coordination between different infrastructural agencies could be feasible ways of rendering the water and energy sectors more sustainable over the long term.